Sermon Brief
Date Written: June 19, 2008
Date last preached: June 22, 2008
Where Preached: OPBC (AM)
Sermon Details:
Series Title: A Journey Thru Hebrews!
Sermon Title: Jesus Delivers us from Our Sin Bondage
Sermon Text: Hebrews 1:1-3 plus Read Passages here
14 Inasmuch then as the children have partaken of flesh and blood, He Himself likewise shared in the same, that through death He might destroy him who had the power of death, that is, the devil, 15 and release those who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage. Heb 2:14-15 (NKJV)
Introduction:
How many times do we greet each other with the obligatory, How are you doing¨ and then we hear back the familiar refrain - I’m fine! There are many times when we SAY we are fine when we are not fine! Physically we just don’t want to complain so we say I’m fine. Kind of like
Farmer Joe who decided his injuries from the accident were serious enough to take the trucking company to court. In court, the trucking company’s fancy lawyer was questioning farmer Joe. "Didn’t you say, at the scene of the accident, I’m fine?" questioned the lawyer.
Farmer Joe said, "Well I’ll tell you what happened. I had just loaded my favorite mule Bessie into the..." The lawyer interrupted and said, "I didn’t ask for any details, just answer the question. Did you not say, at the scene of the accident, I’m fine!" Farmer Joe said, "Well I had just got Bessie into the trailer and I was driving down the road..."
Once again the lawyer interrupted and said, "Judge, I am trying to establish the fact that, at the scene of the accident, this man told the Police that he was just fine. Now several weeks after the accident he is trying to sue my client. I believe he is a fraud, so would you please tell him to simply answer the question."
By this time the Judge was fairly interested in Farmer Joe’s answer and said to the lawyer, "I’d like to hear what he has to say about his favorite mule Bessie." Joe thanked the Judge and proceeded, "Well as I was saying, I had just loaded Bessie, my favorite mule, into the trailer and was driving her down the highway when this huge semi-truck and trailer ran the stop sign and smacked my truck right in the side.
I was thrown into one ditch and Bessie was thrown into the other. I was hurting real bad and didn’t want to move, and I could hear ole Bessie moaning and groaning and I knew she was in terrible shape.
Shortly after the accident a Policeman came on the scene and he could hear Bessie moaning and groaning so he went over to her. After he looked at her he took out his gun and shot her between the eyes.
Then the Patrolman came across the road with his gun in his hand and looked at me. He said, "Your mule was in such bad shape I had to shoot her. How are you feeling?" And judge it was right then and there that told that policeman, "I’m fine!"
So often today, we truly believe we are just fine, walking through life, seeking to meet our own desires and pleasures! But in truth, this morning there no need for you to continue to lie to yourself and say I’m fine! This is because we are not fine. We have ALL been touched by death, because of sin!
Sin is a plague on humanity that is brought about by our own selfish desires and self-centered nature. It is because of sin that we are separated from God it is that separation from our Creator that leaves us in anxiety and constantly searching and seeking for something to satisfy our hearts but no matter where we look, we are met with only temporary success at best!
Sin has our souls in bondage, and it is in this bondage that we remain until we come to know Jesus as Savior, and it is at that point that we are rescued from the bondage of sin and the death it brings rescued by Christ our Savior rescued by the Good News of the Gospel of Christ!
This morning I want us to look at Heb 2:14-15 and see just HOW Jesus delivers from the bondage of sin and death
Jesus¡¦ humanity and death was real (v.14):
Why did God take on flesh? Why did Jesus have to die? These are 2 questions that we find many people asking here the writer of Hebrews in his efforts to clarify salvation and the wonderful deeds of Jesus answers those questions!
If we read v.14 without some idea of what has already been discussed in this chapter one may be confused but here the writer of Hebrews informs his readers that the children he has spoken about in v.13 children in this verse represent those who place their faith and trust in Jesus
And it is here that the writer of Hebrews is saying, Hey since we are all flesh and blood Jesus came and was flesh and blood so that we would know that He knew all about what we face and experience here in this life!
The writer is also saying that death is an inevitable happening for the human experience and that just as we have to die because our human bodies will someday stop functioning Jesus, even though perfect and sinless, was incarnated in a body that would one day die!
What the writer here was doing was establishing the fact that Jesus was FULLY human just as you and I and because Jesus was fully human He was going to face death just as you and I will one day face death...
But what we need to understand here is like what I have shared with you on many occasions although Jesus was fully human and ultimately His human body would have ceased Jesus was not killed or put to death by ANYBODY, but Jesus chose to GIVE His life for the souls of humanity.
And that is why we find the writer then going onto to say that Jesus TOOK ON death so that He might destroy its hold on humanity look at the end of that verse that thru death He might destroy him who had the power of death, that is the devil¨
Jesus came as God wrapped in flesh to live among us and to provide an avenue of salvation for His rebellious creation. The only way this could be done was to set humanity free from the bondage of death and so we see Jesus taking death head on so that He could destroy the power of death and the one who wielded death like a sword over this world the devil himself!
The word the writer uses here for destroy is derived from the Greek word (kat-argeo), which means to annul or to make inoperative! In other words, Jesus came to make impotent the power of Satan and death to trap and enslave humanity!
He came to make Satan’s power over humanity a thing of the past to destroy his hold over humanity with death. Now physical death still lingers on the horizon for all of us as we are human and one day these ole’ bodies will cease to function and we will deink
But for the believer the sting of death is gone because of what Jesus has done! Paul said it best when he said ‘Where oh death is your sting where oh Hell is your victory?’ Read 1 Cor 15:54-57
54 So when this corruptible has put on incorruption, and this mortal has put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written: Death is swallowed up in victory. 55 O Death, where is your sting? O Hades, where is your victory?¨ 56 The sting of death is sin, and the strength of sin is the law. 57 But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.
So we find that we have been delivered from the spiritual death of separation from God for all eternity. We find that we can have victory through Jesus Christ all because of what He did He took on death He destroyed and made impotent the power Satan had over death and ultimately our spiritual eternities
And what good is an enemy whose weapons have been taken away have been made impotent have been neutralized that enemy is a defeated and beaten enemy! So why don¡¦t we claim or victory over Satan and begin to serve Christ as He desires us to do?
Well the enemy is very good at psychological warfare and he has convinced so many people that he has control of their lives and that there is NOTHING they can do to change it! But the enemy also uses lies and misinformation to lead us astray as well.
Satan¡¦s deception is that he convinces many people in this world that they can avoid the depression of death that they can be delivered from the bondage of death by clinging to what the world believes to be our ultimate purpose in life:
They believe that if you immerse yourself in your work, job or career that you will be able to avoid this end! That if you amass enough wealth, that if you exercise hard enough and long enough that you can avoid this disaster of an ending! That if you search for adventure, if you fall in and out of love, and indulge in satisfying your every whim that you will be FREE!
When in fact, these very things bring about a deeper realization of the bondage we are in! And it is the fear of death that creates a restlessness in which we seek to settle by doing what the world says we can do to avoid all this and it is that inability to satisfy that void in our lives that is our bondage!
We attempt to alleviate ourselves from this bondage thru sex, drugs, alcohol, gambling, making money, exotic travel, obtaining power and position or any other means by which the world measures success or freedom! We try what the world has to offer and it will bring to us a measure of pleasure a pittance of satisfaction, but that soon pails and we seek more we need more and we know that death is still there and that death is still our enemy and we want to avoid it!
Because of Christ’s victory We can rejoice (2:15):
Now that Jesus has conquered over death and sin what does that mean for us?
In Rom 8:36-39 the Apostle Paul said, 36 As it is written: For Your sake we are killed all day long; we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter. 37 Yet in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us. 38 For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, 39 nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Because of our frail nature and our human body that will one day fail in the eternal view of things we are as helpless as sheep being led to the slaughter, but because of what Jesus has done in Him we have become MORE than conquerors! And because of Him we have a salvation that can never be taken from us the love of God is SO strong that there is no power that can separate us from it the power of death has been broken!
For the believer, death is not the menacing bull in the china shop that it is for those who do not know Christ. Death is still a reality for the believer, but as believers, we do not view death as the unbeliever. For the believer, death is merely a transition from this world to the next a doorway to enter into the paradise promised by God for His children. Death brings us to our Savior!
Now as believers we are not called to seek death or long for death to take us away, but we are taught not to fear death because death no longer holds us hostage with its power its power has been broken and even though we may physically die our immortal souls will live forever in God’s presence and NEVER taste the spiritual death that comes to those who reject Christ!
Jesus taught while here on earth that He had come to bring life to this world In John 3:36 we learn, 36 He who believes in the Son has everlasting life; and he who does not believe the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him.
Jesus came to bring life and conquer death and Jesus offers that life through offering Himself as the perfect sacrifice so that we no longer have death to fear, but life to look forward to!
But as believers we not only have our life in the next world to look forward to, living with God in His presence and enjoying eternal bliss and joy BUT we also have a joyous life here on this world that Jesus promised!
Jesus also taught in John 10:10 - the thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly.
Jesus destroyed the thief who desire was to destroy YOU! But Jesus also provides life for those without life and a life that they may live in abundance here in this world!
Now understand that the word used here for abundance is not the Greek word for great health and wealth! It is actually the Greek word perisos which means, over and above what is expected in this life, OR something much more OR something that exceeds by a great deal!
In other words, the life that Jesus brings to us is a life like NO other! The singer-songwriter Steven Curtis Chapman wrote a song entitled ‘The Great Adventure’ and in that song it details what that means he says:
This is life like NO OTHER… this is the great adventure! And when we come to Christ and salvation overwhelms our soul we are called into a life like NO other it is an abundant life in the service of our Creator! We are not called by God to experience good health or great wealth although He may choose to bless us with those things we are called to serve and commune with God!
Conclusion:
What a great privilege to be called by your Creator to serve Him and be a part of His kingdom and purpose! Jesus came to free us from the bondage that this world and the prince of this world place upon every human that is sin and death!
On the Cross Jesus accomplished that feat on the cross Jesus took the sin of this world on His shoulders so that we could know the forgiveness and mercy of God! And through the tomb and ultimate resurrection, Jesus took on death and conquered over death making death impotent when it comes to the believer death no longer holds any power over those who have Christ and are IN CHRIST!
Jesus has freed us from our bondage of sin and death and we are free to serve Him, trust Him, and follow Him each and every day of our lives and then when death does come knocking at our door we embrace it because we know that it is but a doorway to the next world and our entrance into the celestial Kingdom to be with our savior!
Today you may not understand everything I have said but what I want you to know is that Jesus came to this earth and did what NO OTHER person could do and that is be the perfect sacrifice that is take the sin of the world on His shoulders that is open the doorway to heaven for all who accept Him as savior.
Jesus came to deliver us and free us from the bondage and tyranny of sin. If you are here today and sin is ruling in your life, I am here to tell you that you CAN overcome the sinful nature of your soul! You can know forgiveness, mercy and reconciliation with your creator! You can know eternal salvation and rest assured that one day you will stand in the very presence of God himself!
Do you want that today? If you do, I want to ask you, as Bro Parker comes to lead us, I ask you to step out as we begin to sing come down to this altar and give it all to God! Give him your heart, your rebellion, your selfishness, your self-centered attitude, your sinful nature and allow him to free you from the bondage that sin and Satan have on your soul! Come as we begin to sing!
